Slashdot Mirror
Busted For Using Library Wi-Fi Outside The Library
sevej writes "Keith Shaw, in his weekly column "Wireless Computing Devices" (Network World Fusion), reported on a recent entry in AKMA's Random Thoughts where AKMA was using a public WiFi network outside of a library. A policeman approached him and asked that he only access the Internet from within the Library and hinted that Federal Laws against "signal theft" were applicable. Oh, and btw, we're not talking about a person that looked like your stereotypical 'hacker'; AKMA is an ordained priest."
He didn't. He assumed and even when he knew AKMA wasn't using wifi, he still told him to leave.
Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'.
I'm sure Apple marketing would rather have it differently, but 'Airport' is not a generic name for Wireless Access Points.
It's perfectly analogous, since if he'd be in the library (notice he has a valid library card, and this is a public signal) he'd be using the exact same bandwidth.
Best regards,
Alex Ionescu
Kernel Developer, ReactOS
http://www.relsoft.net/
Nantucket, which is an island off the coast of Cape Cod. It's mentionned once or twice.
Best regards,
Alex Ionescu
Kernel Developer, ReactOS
http://www.relsoft.net/
I know that over here in Holland there's indeed a law for this. If something is published in the ether, everyone able to receive it is allowed to do so.
--
Ehr, 'Holland, the country' ? Coz I live there and I'm quite certain that's not the case. If you have a TV antenna here and you're receiving TV signals, you will be asked to pay 'kijk en luistergeld'.
"The library was closed at the time, or else I'd have gone ahead in to finish my surfing."
Just a thought: if the library puts up a sign (inside ofcourse) that you can use the internet. Does it mean you can keep on using it, outside the building, after that library closes?
Loitering is also a crime in most localities. Not that I'm defending the officer's actions. He just has other ways to cause issues.
here is the link to the nantucket police department. http://www.nantucket-ma.gov/departments/police.htm l
Now you, yes you, can ring the Nantucket PD and spew your very own, real life, Wi-Fi related verbal flamebait at a policeman close to you. He'll be even closer once they trace your call, and bust _your_ ass for hacking into their phones by dialling them.
Don't miss out on this exciting new opportunity!
You mean similar to the whole "Walkman" thing?
Did you ever notice that only Sony is allowed to call their walkman's a walkman?
As long as Apple stops other companies from using the name, they lose no rights to the trademark if the rest of the world uses it as a generic name.
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
Since when is it in the job description of the Police Department to help carry out statistical surveys for the local library? If the librarians want more statistics, they can simply log more traffic.
BTW, how do you propose keeping all users indoors may help with their statistics? Is it so the librarians can look them over and make notes like "suspicious-looking priest in black with glasses and TiBook" in their little statistical notebooks?
Encrypting wouldn't help much as they would have to give out the key anyway it being a public access point
Yeees. Go on. Keep thinking, you're on to something here. What if it ceases to be a public access point when you turn encryption on? Since the library already had an encrypted AP too, it seems to me this one was intentionally left public and open. Hell, he even had a library card so if they had encrypted the signal and made the AP available for known users only, he would most likely have had access to the key. It would be interesting to see the incident report.
BTW, he's not alone being questioned by police about his horrible crimes and terrorist activities.
Money for nothing, pix for free
It's the same if a cop thinks you're defacing property or if you're up to other shenanigans, but he hasn't actually see you break the law so he cannot take you in or fine you. If he suspects you'll do something bad when he leaves, he will kindly ask you to move along. Happened to me a few times (don't ask).
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
No you don't 'kijk en luistergeld' (TV/Radio license) has been abolished for some time now, since almost everyone owns a radio or TV now, it's being payed through taxes nowadays.
Redirect all traffic from unknown users to a local webserver, which contains a usage agreement. After the user clicks "Accept" add their MAC address to the list of known users, and maybe remove it after 24 hours or so.
That said, why didn't the guy simply walk into the library, sit down at one of their nice tables and use his laptop on the Internet in the Library using the wifi? The cop may not have been right, but there is nothing more dangerous than a cop who is willing to be wrong.
One of the followup articles explained that the library was closed at the time.
Another one said
The Atheneum has just now posted a policy stating that the wifi connection is available only between a half-hour after they open to a half-hour before they close, on days that they're open. The stated reasonn is "for better maintenance and operation." Case closed.
Hell no! If you don't stand up at the root of the problem, then the problem simply grows. First thing you do any time ANY cop tells you to do something you don't agree with is get their badge number and commanding officers name. It's amazing how much of an affect just asking for this information has on them.
They must identify themselves just to prove that they are the real deal and not an imposter (scary how many of those there are too....). Once you have this information, explain (CALMLY!) to the officer why you figure you are in the right. If he still pushes you, then say something to the effect of "i'm going to have to consult my attorney about this" and walk off.
Report the incident as soon as possible to the police captain for whatever barracks the officer is based at and feel free to complain to your local paper / etc. But NEVER let them feel like you just rolled over to their request if you believe it is unconstitutional / illegal / unjust. If you do you set a REALLY BAD precedent for future abuse of their power.
If you can't say something nice, make sure you have something heavy to throw.
Read it again, he said the library was closed. Otherwise, he would have gone in to finish up.
if this was in the USA, actually thanks to HBO in 1981 it is NOT illegal the officer was completely wrong. the law is very clear on this. It is not illegal to take any signal out of the air. it is however illegal to decrypt a signal. That is why HBO ended up having to scramble their signals. They were sueing provate satellite dish owners and manufacturers for copyright infringement. The US supreme court held that if it was not encrypted, it was indeed public domain.
Secondly, the FCC has detemined certain channels to be public use. the 2.4 gig range used by WI/Fi is among those.
New and improved Guilt. Now its alcohol soluble!
"Our reference book collection is complemented by online databases and free Internet access for our patrons." From the Nantucket Atheneum Website.
Money for nothing, pix for free
Apple don't own the "AirPort" trademark in Japan; it's owned by another company, IO-DATA. Apple's wireless hardware is therefore marketed as the "AirMac" range.
In fact, the very laptop on which I am typing this is an iBook with a Japanese-issue Air(Mac|Port) card. The US model gets 11 channels, the EU 13, and the Japanese version can utilise all 14. Not too bad!
If your comment title says 'Re: Foo', I'm not likely to read it.
Ideally, Bush should be arrested and sentenced to prison for life. But we do not live in an "ideal" environment. It seems that nearly half of America is suffering from the Stockholm Syndrome, or the "Benevolent Dictator Syndrome. In 1973, four Swedes held in a bank vault for six days during a robbery became attached to their captors, a phenomenon dubbed the Stockholm Syndrome. According to psychologists, the abused bond to their abusers as a means to endure violence. The Stockholm Syndrome is an emotional attachment, a bond of interdependence between captive and captor that develops 'when someone threatens your life, deliberates, and doesn't kill you.' (Symonds, 1980) The relief resulting from the removal of the threat of death generates intense feelings of gratitude and fear which combine to make the captive reluctant to display negative feelings toward the captor or terrorist. In fact, former hostages have visited their captors in jail, recommended defense counsel, and even started a defense fund. It is this dynamic which causes former hostages and abuse survivors to minimize the damage done to them and refuse to cooperate in prosecuting their tormentors. "The victims' need to survive is stronger than his impulse to hate the person who has created his dilemma." (Strentz, 1980) The victim comes to see the captor as a 'good guy', even a savior. Denial of terror and anger, and the perception of their victimizers as omnipotent people help to keep victims psychologically attached to victimizers is the form prevalent in the US, but in this case, Americans have learned their true opressors:: their own government. High anxiety functions to keep victims from seeing available options. This is why there are frequent "terror alerts"... Psychophysical stress responses develop, such as Bush love.
Without wanting to directly offend anyone... There is one thing that seems to be duly forgotten here. Policemen don't know the law, if they did they'd be lawyers and get paid far more. The police are just there to arrest you and hand you over to the courts who deal with the real law. I've been arrested approx 20 times (petty stuff) in my life and never once charged because of this simple fact. My uncle however, is a barrister and does know the law, hence me never being charged.
That's pretty damn insensitive and bigoted of you.
In fact, the cop did make some kind of comment to the priest about kiddie porn, which was entirely unappropriate.
How would you like it if people assumed you were a member of the KKK simply because you are white? Or a violent gang member because you are black? Or an illegal alien because you are latino? Or that you eat dogs and cats because you are Vietnamese? Or that you live in a single room apartment with 20 people because you are Chinese?
It's bigotry, profiling, and absolutely unacceptable, no matter who it is directed at.
I'm out of my mind right now, but feel free to leave a message.....
1) he was accessing a public hotspot not a private one as such the rules are different in that he is a member of said library and as such has rights to use its facilities.
2) At the time that he was using it no rules were in place against the use of wireless connections outside the library. If you read his coverage, the library stated their opposition to using wireless signals outside the library only after this incident.
I have to question your response to the light analogy. Suppose the bench-sitter is casting a shadow on something the owner of the light wants to see. Would you then say is stealing light?
This is all very complicated.
1. Stealing bandwidth suggests you are depriving someone of the use of that bandwidth (if they pay by the kB -- which is unlikely -- then it's theft of service, not theft of bandwidth).
2. Connection resources are perishable -- if they don't get used, they never will. So in that case it's more like dumpster-diving.
3. In fact, strictly speaking you are not using bandwidth per se. The analog bandwidth of the signal doesn't change with usage.
If you are stealing anything, you are stealing something like time slots on the wire. This will slow down another user's connection if they are queued for the wire and won't if they aren't (in the extreme case, suppose you're the only one using the AP).
The definition of "need" for the wire is slippery, because the effect will be to slow down their effective throughput, perhaps imperceptibly. If the pipe is hardly loaded or not at all, your presence is essentially irrelevant. Are you stealing power if you put a cup in a river that is serving a generator?
Now if you're really loading the wire, say uploading a file, then it moves in the direction of theft. Quantity is quality.
In most cases, I would say using someone's AP without their permission is more like trespassing. In the case of the library, which is a public institution, it is not even that.
As the I.T. director for a public library, let me give my $.02
We use a timed based ACL to restrict connections while we're closed, but I couldn't care less what you do while we're open. We force a page on the first HTTP request, which gives you the ACU and notes that you're agreeing to it by proceeding. Included in that ACU is adhearing to the law (fed. , state, and local). That ACU doesn't mention where you can use the signal, but if it's a nice day...
People surf for porn all the time inside the building. Heck, I'd prefer if they'd take it outside. Granted, we've never had to deal with illegal child porn, but if we did, we'd at least have a MAC address and hostname to watch for if they returned.
Perhaps you can answer a question or two, re: Cease and Desist letters. 1) Why are they all written by someone with a chip on their shoulder, in such a threatening manner?
Many C&D letters are not threatening, and simply serve to notify the receiving party that they are using a mark in a manner which infringes the rights of our client. We lay out the relevant law, what we believe they are doing, and then ask them to rectify the solution. We need to give a date by which a response is expected, otherwise people would drag things out forever. I have used these types of letters many times, usually in the context of a likely innocent infringer (somebody who doesn't know they are doing something wrong).
These letters are rarely posted on the web, because they are boring. You hear about the agressive letters because they get a reaction, and that is generally why they are phrased as they are: they are intended to generate a reaction (see my earlier comment about dragging things out forever). Also, most attorneys are aggressive by nature and have learned things from people who are similarly aggressive. Another reason is because high-profile clients who are paying big bucks to a big firm like to see snappy letters.
Can lawyers be disbarred for telling you (on behalf of their clients) that something you're doing that is legal, isn't?
Well, what is legal is never black and white, although lawyers are paid to see things that way. If the law were so clear, there would be no need for lawyers. There are multiple sides to every story. We are paid to represent our clients zealously, and that includes taking all possible interpretations of law and fact in a light which most benefits our client. Privately, we may tell the client one thing, but there is no obligation to tell the other side any of our misgivings about our case. So, that is a long way of saying, "almost never."
With the case of the daycare using Disney's characters in a non-advertising context, why didn't Disney simply offer to license the appropriate rights to make the mural acceptable?
I am not familiar with this case, but perhaps Disney did make such an offer. Maybe Disney's terms weren't acceptable to the other side. Maybe a Disney lawyer was having a bad day. Who knows? Licensing of the sort you describe happens every day. Many firms and lawyers are able to resolve most conflicts in a more genteel manner than the ones your describe, but there are always some cases that get nasty. Some firms have a reputation for being nasty, and they get some clients because of it. Under the circumstances you describe, I agree that Disney seemed to drop the ball.
I hope I answered your questions. I'm always happy to answer any questions my fellow /. members have regarding intellectual property law.
A reading of their Internet Policy states The mission of the Salt Lake City Public Library is to provide free access to information, materials and services to all members of the community to stimulate ideas, advance knowledge and enhance the quality of life. To support this mission, the Library provides gateway access to the Internet and other electronic resources.The Library considers electronic technology to be a powerful tool and an effective means to extend open access to information and ideas for patrons. But there's nothing about a patron having to be physically inside. The only written prohibition is Use of library equipment or network access for illegal purposes is expressly prohibited. Access to obscene materials by minors is restricted in order to comply with Rule 223-2.. Please take a copy of this document the next time you sit near the library...